


Ratted Out By Your AI Little Brother

by BuzzCat



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Darcyland Secret Santa 2015, F/M, Family, Fluff, Sneaky Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 07:23:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5699929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuzzCat/pseuds/BuzzCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Darcyland Secret Santa 2015 as a present for neverending-shenanigans. When Tony finds out that he's Darcy's father, he has a moment. Darcy tries to convince herself that she doesn't need a father, but that's a pointless fight. And JARVIS, of course, is just really good at spilling secrets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ratted Out By Your AI Little Brother

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neverending_shenanigans](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverending_shenanigans/gifts).



It was only when you really looked for the similarities that you could see them. Something about the nose, the chin. Sometimes, it caught Darcy off guard. Of course, since no one else was looking for the similarities, no one else was connecting the dots. That was the only way Darcy had kept her secret. By making sure no one connected the dots.

Of course, when she moved into the same building as him and they both spent time around a couple of geniuses, it made sense that eventually someone would figure it out. After all, scientists could be oblivious, but surely there was a limit.

The fact that it was the resident AI who blew her secret is what threw Darcy the most.

 

Darcy brought down sandwiches to the lab, just like she always did. She loved each of her scientists and needed to make sure that they weren’t subsisting off of molding coffee and poptarts two years past their expiration date. Darcy’s lunchtime visits had taken on a routine. Drop by Jane’s office, pull three of the four pens out of the astrophysicist’s hair, hand her a glass of milk and a pastrami and provolone sandwich with lettuce and honey mustard. Go next door to Bruce’s lab, hand him a mug of tea with something organic and Asian; he always ordered from some hole-in-the-wall place around the corner that delivered, Darcy just brought it downstairs. Spend a couple minutes trying to make him smile about something, usually some stupid cat video Darcy saw the previous night. Then, into the lion’s den.

For the first two weeks Darcy had lived at the tower, she’d fully expected to walk in to an accusing finger and an utterly distraught biological parent. But as time went on, Darcy realized that in reality, it was possible Tony didn’t actually know what her face looked like. The most he saw of her that Darcy knew he actually saw was her wrist as she pushed a sandwich into his peripheral vision. He might have actually looked up the first time she was hired, but he’d been wearing a welding mask, which made his ability to make out her face dubious at best.

Yes, Tony had yet to actually call her out on being his daughter, which suited Darcy just fine. It all probably would have been fine, if it wasn’t for JARVIS’s updated protocol. Darcy had just managed to get Tony to take notice of the sandwich (roast beef, provolone, cheddar, green sprouts, and mayo) when JARVIS had spoken up,

“Sir, something has come to my attention.” he’d said and Darcy had that brief second of premature knowledge of what was going to go down. Tony had one hand around his sandwich and the other fiddling with the hologram schematic before him,

“What is it? I was just thinking that if we could streamline this piece here, we could get better flight speed.”

“No, sir. Do you remember when you decided to get alarmingly drunk and update my code?” JARVIS said, and Darcy would swear she heard the disapproval in the AI’s voice. Tony paused with a mouth full of sandwich,

“’ah?”

“The new protocol has turned up some new information.” Darcy was edging to the door, debating if this was something she really wanted to see. JARVIS, instead of vocalizing his findings, simply pulled up a document. Specifically, Darcy’s birth certificate. On which Anthony Stark was listed as the father. Tony looked at it, squinted, then shook his head,

“JARVIS, is this a prank or something? Who the hell is Darcy Lewis?”

“An employee of Stark Industries, Jane Foster’s assistant, and the woman who brought you lunch, sir.” That was a frustrated tone if Darcy had ever heard one. Tony whipped around to look at her. Darcy raised one hand and waved,

“’Sup?” she said. Tony narrowed his eyes at her,

“You are suspiciously calm about this.”

“I’ve known since I was eight.” Darcy replied with a shrug. She saw his eyes widen, just a bit. He stepped away from his workbench, stepping down off the raised floor and just standing there, crossing his arms and staring at her. Darcy bore the scrutiny, resisting the urge to pull out her phone, pick at her nails, something. Tony finally spoke,

“While I’m not surprised I have a bastard child running around that I knew nothing about, I am surprised you never called for bail money. College money. Bragging rights.”

Darcy shrugged, “I had a mom. I had a dad. You seemed a bit busy.” She said. Tony winced a bit at that.

“But even when you got hired, you didn’t say anything. At all. Fuck, you’ve been bringing me lunch for months and never even slipped a note.”

“Again, I have a mom. I had a dad. Now I have an astrophysicist, a Hulk, and an engineer inventor billionaire to feed, pedicures with the Black Widow, and a prank war with Hawkeye. My schedule’s booked.”

“’Had a dad?’” Tony asked. He was practically circling Darcy now, trying to find something of himself about her. Or maybe trying to remember her mom, it could be either. Darcy put her hands on her hips and turned to face him,

“He and Mom got a divorce when I was sixteen. Position’s been vacant since.”

“Right.” Said Tony. He stepped back up to his design, playing with the hologram as he asked, “So what now? Do we do bonding things now?”

Darcy snorted, “Dude, now we do whatever the hell we want. I’m successfully employed with health insurance and a 401k; it’s not like I need you to pick me up from school or anything.”

“True, very true. Which is awesome, because if Happy had to drive the limo through a school parking lot every day he’d go crazy with all the minivans.” Tony said, but he wouldn’t meet her eye. Darcy walked around the work station, careful not to touch the hologram but making sure he could see her through it,

“If you wanted to do movie night or something, I’d be down for that. If it’s alright with you, I wouldn’t mind hanging out with my little brothers.”

“Brothers?” said Tony, his head snapping up. Darcy laughed at his expression,

“The bots. They need socializing with someone who isn’t you.”

“Nonsense, they are perfectly functional.”

“Really? Because one of them has been following me around with a fire extinguisher.” Darcy said, turned around to give DUM-E a look.

“You should feel honored; he doesn’t do that for just anyone.”

“Well thank you, small robot friend. I appreciate your undue concern.” Darcy said, patting him on top of his camera. DUM-E made a happy noise and You and Butterfingers came rolling out from the corner, nudging her gently until Darcy had also petted them. Darcy looked at the ceiling,

“JARVIS, if you were a tangible robot, I’d pet you too. Even if you did rat me out.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Miss Lewis. I’m sure I’d find the petting enjoyable.”

“Call me Darcy.”

“Very well, Miss Darcy.” The AI said and Darcy could almost hear him smiling. Tony had just stood there, silent as he watched the bonding experience taking place before him. Darcy gently pushed the bots away, ignoring the sad noises they made,

“Well, I have to go. Jane probably tried to eat something expired by now and has definitely misplaced at least two pages of notes. I’ll drop by later. Bye Tony! Bye bots and JARVIS.” You waved at her as she left. Darcy absolutely did not look at Tony as she walked out. She made sure she was out of sight of the lab before leaning against the wall, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Now he knew. It was up to him if he wanted to do anything now. She took another deep breath, let it out slowly, and walked back down the hall. She hadn’t been kidding about Jane.

Meanwhile, back in the lab, Tony was still staring at the door. Darcy had just walked out that door. Darcy Lewis. His daughter. His out-of-college daughter who had been his employee for months and hadn’t said anything about being his daughter. The daughter who had known for more than ten years that he was her father and hadn’t said anything. The daughter who never told him because he seemed _busy_. He’d been the same type of parent as Howard before he even knew he could.

“Holy fuck.” He said, sitting on the chair and letting his head fall into his hands. He said through his hands,

“JARVIS, call Pepper.”

“Of course, sir.” Tony heard it ring three times before she picked up,

“Tony, if this is another request for the company to buy Mars Candy because they stopped making the tan M&M, I’m hanging up.”

“I have a daughter.” He said. Pepper paused,

“Tony, I’m going to ask you to repeat that because I need to make sure I heard what I just heard.”

“I have offspring. Spawn. My seed has brought forth life.” Tony said. He heard Pepper take a deep breath and could almost see her pinching the bridge of her nose,

“Okay. First, we call the mother and ask what her plans are, if she wants to keep the child or not. Then—“

“Christ, Pepper! I didn’t go get someone pregnant while we’re together!” Tony said, partially annoyed that she thought he’d do that now that he had her and partially afraid of the idea of having a child that young. That meant being responsible for its development and helping make good choices and teach right from wrong and Tony was still a little fuzzy on that concept himself, “Pepper, my daughter is Darcy.” He heard a clatter, “Pepper? Pepper!”

“Sorry, I dropped my phone. Did you just say Darcy? Darcy Lewis? Jane’s assistant Darcy Lewis? The woman who has been bringing you lunch every day? Steve’s girlfriend Darcy Lewis?”

“Yes, tha—did you just say Steve’s girlfriend?”

“Yes, she and Steve have been going out for four months now.”

“Captain America is dating MY DAUGHTER?”

“Tony, she is old enough to make her own choices and Steve Rogers is hardly a bad one.”

“Yes, but they’ve been going out four months! He might have taken LIBERTIES, Pepper!”

“Tony. You just found out she exists. I don’t think you’re allowed to judge her life choices just yet.” Pepper said. Tony wiped a hand down his face,

“She knew, Pep. She knew about me since she was eight.”

Silence. Then, “How did she find out?”

“Didn’t say. Pep, she never contacted me because I seemed busy. My daughter never told me she existed because I was fucking _busy_.” Tony wanted to throw something and throw up at the same time. Fuck, he’d already failed her so bad.

“Tony…” Even Pepper didn’t know what to say to that. They both knew that Tony had actually _been_ busy, saving the world a couple times and such. But they both also knew that he would have found time, made time, for his daughter. Pepper cleared her throat,

“Did you guys talk about what to do next, or just playing it by ear?”

“She mentioned movie night.”

“Perfect. Do that. I’ll be home in a couple hours.”

“’Kay. Thank you, Pep.”

“You’re welcome.” Tony hung up, staring at his phone. He spun around to his hologram, minimizing the current project,

“JARVIS? Show me a live feed of Darcy.”

 

Down in Jane’s lab, Jane had noticed something different about her friend. Jane could be oblivious with the best of them when she got wrapped up in her work, but she did her best to keep an eye on Darcy. And Darcy was acting strange. Jane walked up and sat on the corner of Darcy’s desk,

“Spill.”

“A word with so many different meanings when given so little context. Spill the beans? No use crying over spilled milk? Clean up that spill?”

“Something happened and you’re being weird. Tell me what happened.” Jane said. Darcy sighed and took a deep breath, leaning back in her chair until she was almost tipping it over,

“Fine. But if we’re doing this, we need alcohol. A high quantity of alcohol. And absolutely no science is allowed to be happening. This is strictly girl time.”

“Okay. Gimme an hour to wrap things up.” Jane said. Darcy raised an eyebrow,

“I thought you were one of those people who just didn’t believe in ceasing work?”

“You have called for girl time approximately three times in the three years I’ve known you. It’s important.” As Jane stepped away to go save her work, Darcy muttered under her breath,

“You have no idea.”

An hour later, Jane had saved her work and put all of her whirring spacey mechanical children to sleep. Darcy had acquired wine, chocolate, and ice cream, the essentials for a girl’s night. As Jane stepped into her friend’s quarters, she dropped onto the couch beside Darcy. Darcy looked up at the ceiling,

“JARVIS, you sneaky bastard, enable privacy mode please.”

“Of course, Miss Darcy.” Tony, downstairs still trying to process what had happened, was disappointed to see his feed go dark at his daughter’s words. He frowned, then stood. If he couldn’t do something about understanding his girl, he’d do something to protect her.

Upstairs, Darcy had opened a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream. Jane watched inquisitively as Darcy took a drink. Darcy say Jane’s wide-eyed expression of curiosity and answered the unasked question, “Tony Stark is my father,” then took another pull from the bottle. Jane stared a second, then,

“WHAT? Darcy, why didn’t you tell me? Your dad is…He’s…”

“A genius billionaire playboy who probably didn’t need an eight year-old trailing after him while he conquered the weapons industry, saved the world, and fucked his way across Europe?” She took a spoonful of ice cream, “Not necessarily in that order?” Jane seemed to calm a bit at that, looking slightly less likely to start pacing as she grabbed her own bottle and opened it. She took a sip,

“Still, I mean…Darcy, he’s your dad.”

“I know. I’ve known for a while.”

“How long?”

“Since I was eight.”

“EIGHT? Darcy, you’ve known he was your father for twelve years and you didn’t say anything?”

“Nope. I had a mom, I had a dad, and I was _fine_.” Jane privately thought it sounded a bit like Darcy was trying to convince herself, but she didn’t comment. She sighed and leaned back on the couch before leaning to the side, letting her head rest on Darcy’s shoulder,

“Did he know?”

“His name is on the birth certificate. Mom probably told him.” Darcy commented flippantly. A part of her was totally casual about being the daughter of Tony Stark, the rest of her still the eight year-old daydreaming about Tony Stark sweeping in and carrying her away to live in the lap of luxury (which at the time entailed staying up late, two bedtime stories, eating ice cream for breakfast, and riding in a limo every day). Jane shook her head,

“But he figured it out.”

“Yep. JARVIS, my traitorous little brother, told him. Hey, how did you know?” Darcy said, addressing her question to the ceiling. The disembodied voice replied,

“The other night, sir decided to up his security on his lab and have me do in-depth research for anyone entering his lab. Since the implementation of the code, this was the first time Miss Darcy entered the lab.”

“So you knew he was your dad, but he didn’t know you’re his daughter?” Jane summarized. Darcy sighed and let her head fall to the side to rest on top of Jane’s,

“Yep.”

“Wow.”

“Yep.” The two sat there a moment in silence, Jane absorbing it all and Darcy trying to blank out her overactive mind. Jane said quietly,

“So, no bullshit, where are you at now? As far as father/daughter goes?” Darcy thought for a second then replied,

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m old enough I don’t really need a father.” Jane snorted at that and Darcy tried to look down at her, “What?”

“Yeah, you _totally_ don’t need a father. Which is why you practically adopted Eric as your dad and pretty much have Bruce vet your boyfriends.”

“Bruce does not vet my boyfriends!”

“Darcy. You always gush about a guy in front of him and get his opinion before you actually make a move. He vets your boyfriends.” Jane said. Darcy blinked, then let out a dramatic sigh,

“Okay fine maybe he vets my boyfriends. But I don’t _need_ a father!”

“But you want one.” Jane said with the kind of certainty Darcy couldn’t lie to. Darcy was quiet, then replied,

“Yeah. Maybe. But that’s the thing. I mean, sure I want a dad. What little girl doesn’t want a steady protective male figure in her life to save her from the big bads of the world? And in this case, he’d literally be saving me from the big bads of the world. But he’s Tony Stark. This guy has had sex with more women than Hugh Hefner. His calendar is scheduled six months out and he shows up to maybe half of those meetings. The only reason he doesn’t live off of motor oil and week-old pizza half the time is because I bring him food! Jane, I want a dad, not someone who texts me every two months when he remembers I exist.” Darcy said. Jane couldn’t argue with that. JARVIS chimed in,

“Miss Darcy, if I may offer an opinion?”

“Sure, J. I mean, you’re probably biased because while he made both of us, he had the opportunity to actually program in ‘Tony Stark is AWESOME’ with you, but sure. What’s your take?”

“I believe that in the past, sir would not have been as good of a father as he would be now. With the Avengers Initiative, he has come a long way toward being father material and is better at assuming responsibility. His relationship with Miss Potts is an example of how he treats those he cares about. I believe that if you were to pursue a relationship with him, he would try his best.”

“But in the wise words of Yoda, ‘there is no try’. If trying his best means I get a text every other week, I don’t want him to try at all!” Darcy shouted, tears in her eyes.

“Darcy, if life had guarantees…”

“Jane, don’t pull fortune cookie shit on me right now. Just…let me not think.”

“Okay.” Jane said. The room was quiet a second, then Jane suggested, “Disney?”

“Yes please.”

 

The next morning, Darcy was woken up by her phone ringing. She squinted in the morning light and picked it up without looking at the caller, mumbling in her pre-coffee voice,

“Hello?”

“Darcy? It’s Pepper Potts.” The voice on the other end said. Darcy’s sluggish brain took a second to put those words together into something resembling English, then she sat up straight up in bed and whipped around to look at the clock. It was Saturday, so no work. She didn’t have any meetings scheduled. As far as she knew, none of her scientists had blown anything up. Darcy let out a breath,

“Hi! Ms. Potts.”

“Good morning, Darcy.” Pepper sounded almost amused, “I was wondering if you’re busy today?”

“Um,” Darcy looked around her apartment at the clothes on the floor, Jane passed out on her couch, and the congealed takeout containers that littered her apartment, “not really. What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping. It’s been a full month since anything blew up in the lab and I think you are in no small way responsible for that. A Saturday of shopping, purchases put on the company card. Are you interested?”

“Yes please, o mighty paycheck-signer. Can you give me, like, an hour and a half to get ready?”

“I’ll send Happy over with the car.”

“Thank you, Ms. Potts.”

“Pepper. I’ll see you then.”

“Bye!” Darcy hung up and stared at her phone. Holy shit. She had a shopping date with Pepper Potts. In an hour and a half. Darcy definitely still smelled like yesterday’s sweat and had probably got food on her pants in the past twelve hours. Shit.

 

An hour and a half later, Darcy had showered, dressed for shopping it what hopefully was appropriate for a day with Pepper Potts, pushed Jane off her couch and out the door, and was waiting in her apartment’s lobby. She saw a black car roll up and a man got out who definitely could have been Happy. He came around the car and stood by the door. Darcy took a deep breath and walked out. The man smiled and opened the door. Darcy nodded at him with what she hoped was more smile than grimace and got in. As soon as she sat down, she knew something was wrong. Then, someone pressed a rag over her face and she blacked out.

 

_Stupid, stupid, stupid,_ Darcy thought as she woke up. She was in what was best described as a cell, handcuffed to an uncomfortable bed. There was no window in her cell, so Darcy had no idea how long she’d been out. There were no guards that she could see through the small glass pane on the door, but the door was locked. They’d taken her purse, which had her phone and taser in it. A quick search of her pockets revealed that Darcy’s arsenal included a gum wrapper, a couple coins, and a tampon. As these were apparently rather incompetent bad guys, no one had checked the inside of her boots, where Darcy kept a burner phone and an extra taser stashed. Steve had insisted on it and Darcy was suddenly glad that he was so overprotective. She looked around again and then squished herself against her wall, trying to make sure that if someone opened her cell they wouldn’t see the phone right away. With shaking hands, she turned it on and almost cried when it had service. She opened her contacts and clicked on the only one programmed in. It rang once and Darcy was praying to whoever was listening that Steve picked up. If he was on a mission—like he had been last night—he wouldn’t get her call and then Darcy was really fucked. But the odds were in her favor as his voice answered,

“Where are you?”

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you manners?” Darcy whispered, her voice weak with relief.

“Darcy, this is not your normal phone. What happened?”

“I was supposed to go shopping with Pepper but someone else that I thought was her pulled up and when I got in they drugged me. I don’t know where I am or how long I’ve been gone. Steve, I’m low-key freaking out.”

“Do you still have the other thing I told you to hide?”

“Yeah. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Good. JARVIS is tracking your phone, we should have a lock soon.” Steve said. Darcy nodded, then listened. She heard boots clunking down the hall toward her.

“Someone’s coming.” She hissed into the phone.

“Put this in your boot, but keep the line open.” He said. Darcy threw the phone into her boot and managed to act casual just before she heard a key scrape in the lock. The door opened and a man in rather imposing black stared at her. Darcy rolled her eyes,

“Okay, I get you’re supposed to be scary and shit, but I’ve seen the Avengers shirtless. You rate possibly a 6/10 on the size-intimidation scale. Points deducted because most of the guys I hang out with are over six-foot six.” Darcy said. The man’s expression didn’t change. He spoke,

“Come with me, Miss Foster.” Darcy was about to protest the mistaken identity, but figured it might be easier to explain it to whoever they were taking her to. Besides, then she’d know who was in charge and Steve and his people could kick the right ass. She followed the man in black down the hall, taking lefts and rights until Darcy was hopelessly lost. Finally, he led her down a flight of stairs and opened the door to what Darcy was fairly certain was an interrogation room. Darcy sauntered in, taking a chair and leaning back to put her feet up on the desk. The man stayed in the room, standing in the corner and looking scary. Darcy clicked her teeth,

“So, are we waiting on the man in charge? Because he better hurry up. The Man with a Plan is on his way, so you all better get your shit together.” The man said nothing. Darcy rolled her eyes and pulled a coin out of her pocket. She flipped it up in the air, catching it in her hand and flipping it again. They waited a couple minutes before another man walked in, his ginger hair slicked down and he forcibly reminded Darcy of a rat. He sneered at her,

“So, Miss Foster, you will be telling us about your research today.” He had an accent Darcy couldn’t place and she shook her head, snickering,

“Okay, yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that the B-team is working today in Bad Guys R Us. You fucked up so hard, at this point I just want to pinch your cheeks. It’s adorable how you think you tried.” There was a loud thud from above them and Darcy didn’t even bother looking up as she heard a roar. The weasel man and his associate both looked up and the man in the corner reflexively put a hand to the gun at his side. Darcy started picking at the grime beneath her nails, “There’s a pretty good chance that’s the Hulk, so you might want to say your prayers and practice groveling.” There were shots fired down the hall, “Yep, so fucked.” The door crashed open to reveal Iron Man, who quickly incapacitated the two men. Darcy kicked her feet off the table and stood up, dusting imaginary dirt off herself, “Awesome, let’s roll. Can we get donuts on the way home? This definitely feels like a donuts kind of situation.”

“Are you alright?” Tony asked, his faceplate up and pulling Darcy close, his hands on her elbows. Darcy shrugged,

“Yeah, fine. Seriously, these guys must have flunked Villain High School, they suck at this. We should probably head out though. Do me a solid and take those two amateurs with you? We should probably try to find out where the brains of the operation is hiding.”

“Steve’s on his way, he can carry them. I’m giving you a ride.”

“Tony, seriously, not necessary, I’m f—“ The rest of Darcy’s words were cut off as Tony swooped her up, an arm under her knees and another on her back. Darcy rolled her eyes, “Really, dude? Steve is going to freak when he sees this. Seriously, he’s going to get all possessive and panicky and talk about how somebody hurt his girl and spend a bunch of time checking me over to make sure I didn’t get a papercut or something. If I just walked we’d be fine but oh no, gotta _carry_ me.” Tony said nothing as Darcy continued to lament his life choices. When Steve had answered, he’d put Darcy on speakerphone. Tony had heard everything and he swore that it felt like his heart had stopped. He’d had a daughter for a whopping total of less than twenty-four hours and she’d been kidnapped. He’d come so close to losing her, like hell was he about to let go of her. Steve came crashing down the stairs, kicking a bad guy out of his way, and ran over to Darcy, taking her face between his hands and kissing her. Darcy just tried to forget that her dad was holding her as her superhero boyfriend made out with her. Tony lasted about half a second before he just started walking forward, pushing Steve to the side so he could walk through. Darcy rolled her eyes but honestly, being kidnapped kinda took the fight out of her after the adrenaline wore off. She leaned back against Tony’s chest, ignoring how uncomfortable the hard metal was. Steve followed them,

“Tony, I’ve got her.”

“Not a chance, Spangles. Go grab the bad guys, we’ll figure out who they’re with.”

“Tony, I can carry Darcy out. She’s… I’ve got her.”

“Steve, it’s fine. Tony needs a second because he doesn’t like to share. Please grab Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the other room.” Darcy said. Steve looked at her skeptically, but moved. Darcy gave up and wrapped her arms around Tony’s neck closing her eyes. Tony muttered down at her,

“Don’t make a habit of this, kid.”

“The getting kidnapped or the getting carried?” Darcy asked.

“Either.”

“Well, to be fair, I didn’t ask for either.”

“Still.” Tony didn’t seem to have anything else to say on it. He carried her to the ambulance and set her down, waiting until the paramedic had officially declared her okay. Once they were alone, Darcy sitting on the edge of the ambulance’s floor and Tony standing beside her, she couldn’t stop herself from leaning her head against him. Tony didn’t quite know what to do with that and settled for putting an arm around her shoulders. Tony looked down at Darcy,

“So when we get past the kidnapping and stuff, we should totally do that movie night.”

“Agreed.” Darcy said without opening her eyes. Tony looked down at his hands. It felt like there was more to say, so much more, but he didn’t know what. He sat down beside Darcy and leaned his head on top of hers. She turned so her head was still on his shoulder, but this time she faced into his body and wrapped her arms around his waist. Tony hesitated a moment, then returned the gesture, holding Darcy close. There really weren’t words then, but maybe later. Maybe they could learn to be a family. Maybe.


End file.
